Computers are a regular part of the everyday life of many people. Computers are typically used in one's home as well as one's business or work place. A computer monitor is one of the main interfaces used to enable a person to interact with the computer. The computer monitor has a display screen for displaying information, usually in graphic format, to the user. Input devices, such as a mouse and a keyboard, are also devices that are used to interface a user with the computer.
The junction between a user and a computer is commonly referred to as a user interface. A user interface is typically in the form of a set of commands and menus through which a user communicates with the computer. A command-driven interface is one in which a user enters commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which a user selects command choices from various menus displayed, on the screen. The user interface is one of the most important parts in a computer system because it determines how easily a user can make the program do what the user wants. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that use windows, icons, and pop-up menus have become standard on personal computers.
User interfaces are typically used in computing environments for easy navigation, control, display of status information, etc., of software programs and applications of a given operating system. One type of user control in computing environments includes resource and event monitoring and tracking of internal resources and events. In one example, a computing environment can be used to monitor external resources or events, such as medical data or manufacturing data. These resources and events need to be monitored and tracked by the user. If the data falls below a threshold or emergency level, the computing environment needs to make the user aware in an efficient manner to avoid detrimental results.
Typically, internal computing resources need to be monitored by an administrative user. In typical computing environments, the resources can fall below ideal and working threshold levels, depending on usage. When the resources fall below these threshold levels, the computing environment can become unstable. This can cause severe problems not only in single user environments, but also in multi-user networking environments.
Many of the most time consuming and critical tasks for computer system operators and users result from the need to monitor a set of related resources for excessive use of limited resources and/or setting of allocation of that resource to multiple operations.
The current practice is either to look at individual reports for each demand, or to look at a composite table showing all the allocations in an alpha-numeric form. In both cases, the user is left with the task of calculating the relative values against a known total available and determining the corresponding importance.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for reducing the time required for monitoring a set of related resources and for allocating the resource to multiple operations in a processing system. The system and method should be easy to implement, cost effective and compatible with existing processing environments. The present invention addresses such a need.